WHO urges countries to fight tobacco industry’s interference

The tobacco industry continues to “hamper” government efforts to curb smoking by threatening litigation and attempting to undermine scientific evidence when tobacco control policies are introduced, the World Health Organization has warned.1

In its latest report on global tobacco use WHO looks at countries’ adherence to its Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), a set of measures that it urges countries to implement to end tobacco use. It advises countries to protect themselves from tobacco industry interference—a key requirement of the FCTC.

The report,1 funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, a non-governmental organisation founded by the US businessman and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, says that the tobacco industry has “long operated …